When Alvarez left him he went into the town and after walking about the alameda sat down at a table in front of the cafe and ordered some wine.  This was safer than the black coffee and scented cordials the citizens drank, but he tasted it carefully and gave himself up to anxious thought without draining his glass.  The insurance on the Rio Negro did not cover all the risks Mayne would run if he left port with disabled engines, and the coast was dangerous.  The loss of the ship would be a blow, but if Mayne did not leave Havana soon the freight might arrive after the president’s fall.  Kit, feeling his responsibility, shrank from the momentous choice, and while he pondered Olsen came up and occupied a chair opposite.

“Drinking tinto!” he remarked.  “Well, I guess that’s prudent.  But how’s the Buccaneer?  He’s been looking shaky and I heard he was ill.”

Kit wondered how much Olsen knew.  He said Adam’s fever came and went and he would, no doubt, be better soon.  Olsen smiled and shook his head.

“There’s no use in giving me that stuff; I know the climate!  Askew’s going under fast and will never be fit again.  I reckon the old man knows he’s got to let up, if you don’t.  What are you going to do when he pulls out?”

“It will need some thought,” Kit answered cautiously, since he had grounds for believing the other imagined he was Adam’s clerk.

Olsen ordered some vermouth, and then remarked in a meaning tone:  “I don’t have to be careful about my drinks.  There’s an advantage in taking the popular side.”

“Are you sure yours is the popular side?”

“Wait and see,” Olsen rejoined, “though that plan’s expensive, because it may be too late when you find out.  My employers don’t often back the wrong man and I trust their judgment now.  If you’ll listen, I’ll show you.”

Kit signed him to go on and Olsen resumed:  “The Buccaneer will drop out soon and you’ll be left to do the best you can for yourself.  Well, I don’t suppose you’ll get another chance like this; we’ll pay you ten thousand dollars if you can keep the Rio Negro back for a week.”

“That doesn’t indicate that you’re sure of winning,” Kit remarked dryly.  “Besides, I wouldn’t trust Galdar to put up the money.”

“I don’t ask you to trust Galdar; my people will find the money.  In a sense, it doesn’t matter to us who is president, except that we want the concessions Galdar promised, and they’re worth an extra two thousand pounds.  We’ll give you American bills for the sum if your steamer lands her cargo too late to be of use.”

Kit thought hard.  It looked as if Olsen knew the Rio Negro had broken down.  If so, he was obviously well informed and his employers were persuaded that the probability of the president’s downfall was strong enough to justify the bribe.  Two thousand pounds would go some way to making Ashness a model farm, while it was plain that Adam might lose the money he had hinted he meant to leave Kit.  Kit, however, did not feel tempted, although he wanted to find out something about Olsen’s plans.